Method for forming a non-bulky seam in ladies&#39; full-fashioned hosiery



Oct. 24, 1961 R. M. MATTHEWS ET AL METHOD FOR FORMING A NON-BULKY SEAMIN LADIES FULL-FASHIONED HOSIERY Filed Dec. 25, 1957 SEA/WING D/REC 7'10N t, y I

Fl 9 3 INVENTORS ROBERT/W. MATTHEWJ 6 BY ROY E. CLARK 74/44 a 7gimATTORNEYS 3,005,430 METHOD FQR FGRMING A NGN-BULKY SEAM 1N LADIESFULL-FASHIONED HOSIERY Robert M. Matthews, Charlotte, N.C., and Roy E.Clark,

Flowery Branch, Ga., assignors to Chadbourn Gotham,

Inc., a corporation of North Carolina Filed Dec. 23, 1957, Ser. No.704,491 1 Claim. (Cl. 112-262) This invention relates to the seaming ofladies fullfashioned hose, and more particularly to the seaming of suchhose with a non-bulky seam that flattens against the wearer when worn.

According to the present invention a non-bulky seam, of the general typedisclosed by US. Patent No. 2,8063 67, is produced by seaming aconventional full-fashioned hosiery blank in a uniquely regulated mannerby which flattening characteristics are obtained in the resulting seamstructure. Briefly described, the seaming method of the presentinvention comprises forming a seaming stitch chain along the selvageedges of a full-fashioned hosiery blank with a relatively large seamingstitch and with a relatively few wales at each selvage edge included inthe seam.

Ordinarily, a full-fashioned hosiery seam is formed with a three-threadseaming chain holding about 6 to 8 wales at each selvage edge of thehosiery blank in a tight cordlike formation. In the non-bulky seamstructure of the present invention this cord-like formation is entirelyeliminated so that there is substantially no diiference in the feel ofthe hosiery fabric at the seam.

For this purpose, the seaming operation is carried out according to thepresent invention with the hosiery blank fed so as to capture from 3 towales at each selvage edge in the seaming stitch chain while forming aseaming stitch about double normal size. To enlarge the seaming stitchin this manner, the stitch forming steps are arranged to produce theenlarged stitch formation while supplying the seaming thread or yarn ata sufliciently increased rate to provide for the stitch enlargement andin a relation that balances the seam structure eifectively forflattening as described in further detail below in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exaggerated diagrammatic illustration of the non-bulky seamstructure formed according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective illustration illustrating thegeneral arrangement of the seaming means employed according to thepresent invention for forming the non-bulky seam structure shown in FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional detail taken substantially on the line 33 in FIG.2; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating further the thread ratio controlmeans seen in FIG. 2 as provided according to the present invention forsupplying seaming thread or yarn to the seaming operation.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, FIG. 1 illus tratesdiagrammatically the arrangement of a hosiery fabric knit conventionallywith a body yarn and then seamed according to the present invention sothat a relatively few selvage wales of the hosiery fabric areincorporated in a non-bulky, fiattenable seam formed by needle castloops 12 enchained with pairs of looper cast loops 14 and 16, and inwhich seam the needle cast loops 12 have a length correspondingsubstantially to the aggregate length of the pairs of looper cast loops14 and 16 so as to balance the seam structure, as previously mentioned,and provide the flat, non-bulky form by which the seam is characterized.

The arrangement of seaming means for forming a nonbulky seam of thissort in accordance with the present invention is indicated in FIGS. 2, 3and 4 of the drawings,

3,065,431 Patented Get. 24, 1961 FIG. 2 representing fragmentarily astitch forming mechanism of the type commonly employed for seamingfullfashioned hosiery blanks as disclosed, for example, in US. PatentNo. 2,448,774. A stitch forming mechanism of this type conventionallycomprises a stitching needle, as indicated at 18, arranged toreciprocate transversely in relation to the nip of rear and front feedcups 20 and 22 which are arranged for gripping and feeding afullfashioned hosiery blank (not shown) past the needle 18 with theselvage edges of the blank disposed to have successive needle loops(such as are designated by the reference numeral 12 in FIG. 1) casttherethrough by the needle 18. In addition, a rear looper 24 and a frontlooper 26 are arranged for oscillation in relation to the reciprocatingneedle 18 for casting the respective loops 14 and 16 illustrated in FIG.1 while enchaining these loops with the needle cast loops 12 to form aseaming stitch chain joining the selvage edges of the hosiery blank,separate seaming threads 12, 14' and 16 being supplied respectively tothe needle 18 and loopers 24 and 26 for forming the respective seamingchain loops 12, 14 and 16.

The seaming stitch chain described above is formed in the usual mannerduring the seaming operation about a stitch tongue 28 as seen in FIG. 3,this stitch tongue 28 being mounted above the rear feed cup 20 with astitch forming portion thereof disposed on the tangent axis of the feedcups 2t and 22 and just ahead of and above the nip thereof to clear thereciprocating needle 18. Also, a guide member 30 of the usual type isprovided so that the selvage edges of the hosiery blank to be seamed maybe uncurled ahead of the feed cups K20 and 22 and disposed properly atthe nip thereof for seaming, as indicated generally in FIG. 3.

According to the present invention, the reciprocating needle 18 isarranged to reciprocate across the top of the feed cups 20 and 22 justas closely as possible, and the guide member 30 is set to lead theselvage edges of the hosiery blank to the feed cups 2t and 22 so thatthe seaming intersection of the blank by the needle 18 takes place at aspacing of only a relatively few wales from each selvage edge, which ispreferably controlled in accordance with the present invention so thatnot more than five and not less than three wales at each selvage edgeare disposed above the needle 18 for resulting incorporation in the seambeing formed. If more than five wales at the selvages are incorporatedthe seam will usually be more bulky than is desirable, While if lessthan three wales are incorporated the body fabric is apt to be distortedby the seam structure upon stretching. Also, according to the presentinvention, the'stitch forming portion of the stitch tongue 28 isproportioned in cross section for producing a substantially enlargedstitch formation while being disposed at a position lowered as much aspossible above the reciprocating needle 1-8. The enlarged form of thestitch tongue 28 as employed according to the present invention isnormally such as substantially to double the usual or conventionalseaming stitch size.

In addition, in order to provide for the enlarged stitch formation ofthe seaming stitch chain formed about the stitch tongue 28, and tobalance the stitch chain structure for flattening, seaming thread issupplied to the reciprocating needle 1-8 at an increased rate inrelation to the loopers 24 and 26. For this purpose, the respectivesupply threads 12', 14' and 16 are fed to the stitch forming meansthrough a tension disc arrangement, as indicated at 32 in FIGS. 2 and 4,and then separately wrapped about a freely rotatable thread ratiocontrol Wheel 34, at

separate drum portions 3e, 38 and 40 thereon, before being trainedrespectively to the needle 18 and loopers 24 and 26. As seen best inFIG. 4, it should be noted particularly that the drum portion 36provided for the needle seaming thread 12' is substantially larger indiameter than the drum portions 38 and 40 provided for the respectivelooper seaming threads 14' and 16', whereas normally the drum portionprovided for determining the needle thread ratio is smaller in diameterthan that provided for the looper threads in forming a conventionalseam. Accordingly, the practice followed in setting the thread controlratio pursuant to the present invention is exactly contrary to usualpractice. In particular the diameter of the drum portion 36 for theneedle seaming thread 12' is determined so as to afford a needle threadsupply sufiicient to allow needle loops 12 to be cast by the stitchforming mechanism in a length corresponding substantially to theaggregate length of the pairs of loops 14 and 16 cast respectively bythe rear and front loopers 24 and 26, and thereby form a balanced seamstructure as illustrated in FIG. 1 that will flatten with all of theseaming threads so related as to distribute equally the stretch ingforces imposed thereon when the seamed hose is worn to provide maximumstrength in the seam structure.

The result is to provide a full-fashioned hosiery seam structure that isuniquely flat and nonbulky, that has a balanced formation providingunusual strength, that allows seaming threads corresponding to the bodyyarn to be used advantageously when desired, and that makes it possibleto seam full-fashioned hosiery so the steam is not felt at all by thewearer and is often hardly detectable when the hosiery is worn.

The foregoing characteristic advantages of the seam structure providedby the present invention can also be obtained when a two-thread seamingchain is employed, rather than a three-thread chain as described above,if the seaming threads are similarly regulated to balance the resultingtwo-thread seam structure for flattening. For this purpose, the needlethread supply for a two-thread seam must be regulated in relation to thesingle looper thread therefor so that the needle cast loops and thelooper cast loops are substantially equal in length, in which case thetwo-thread stitches formed will be balanced and flattenable in the samemanner as the stitches of the three-thread seam previously described.Such regulation of the needle and looper threads for a twothread seamrequires rearrangement of the thread ratio control Wheel 34 to providedrum portions for the respective seaming threads that are related indiameter so as to supply the needle and looping means in the relationexplained above. Otherwise, the seaming operation is carried outaccording to the present invention in exactly the same way for atwo-thread seam as for a three-thread seam.

The method and means for producing fiat or non-bulky type seams of thisinvention have been described hereinabove with particular reference toproducing full fashioned hosiery but it is to be understood that thistype of seam is of advantage, from the comfort and appearancestandpoints, in other knitted garments and in knitted fabrics generallyand the method and means of the present invention are applicable to theforming of flat or nonbulky seams in knitted fabrics generally. Also, itis to be understood that the present invention may be used to produce aflat seam in hosiery or other garments knitted with stretch yarns ornon-stretch yarns.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes ofillustration only and is not intended to be limited by this descriptionor otherwise except as defined in the appended claim.

We claim:

A method of seaming knitted fabrics with a non-bulky seam that flattenswhen stretched, which method comprises feeding walewise selvage edges offabric blanks for seaming along the wales while feeding to include inthe seam 3 to 5 wales from each selvage edge of said blanks, seamingsaid Walewise selvage edges with a seaming stitch chain formed by needlecast loops enchained with looper cast loops, while forming said stitchesover a stitch finger of sufficient widt-hto produce a seam of a widthgreater than the total width of the wales included in said seam so thatthe selvage edges are spaced apart upon stretching said fabric and theseaming stitches will lay substantially flat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,715,372 Kohler June 4, 1929 1 1,987,090 Weinholz Jan. 8, 19352,012,560 Goodman Aug. 27, 1935 2,050,790 Goodman Aug. 11, 19362,133,229 Rubel Oct. 11, 1938 2,332,921 Kucera Oct. 26, 194-3 2,332,932Riviere Oct. 26, 1943 2,448,774 Cook Sept. 7, 1948 2,512,489 Dills June20, 1950 2,720,854 Cook Oct. 18, 1955 2,751,866 Schweda June 26, 19562,806,367 Bolles et al. Sept. 17, 1957 2,871,806 Bley Feb. 3, 1959FOREIGN PATENTS 568,970 Germany Feb. 1, 1933

